Music and the Spoken Word: Change and constancy

Monday

Jul 16, 2018 at 5:58 AM

As we commence our 90th year of sharing timeless music and messages with the world, we hope you will continue to find hope and inspiration, just as people everywhere have found it in this broadcast since way back in 1929.

Without question, the year 1929 was a memorable one. During that year, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began, a German airship circled the globe in record time, and the Academy Awards were presented for the first time.

Among these monumental events was another one that, at the time, may not have seemed quite as significant. On a hot summer day — July 15, 1929, to be exact — on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, a young man climbed a ladder and spoke into a borrowed microphone suspended from the ceiling of the Tabernacle to introduce a brand-new radio program of inspirational music and spoken word. Who could have guessed that nine decades later, millions of faithful listeners around the world would continue to tune in each week to see and hear Music and the Spoken Word — the longest continuously broadcast network program in history?

In many ways, life was quite different in 1929. In that year, radio was a relatively new medium. News was still delivered primarily in newspapers, and mail came in envelopes with stamps. Today radio remains popular but has been joined by communication channels such as television, cable, satellite, and internet streaming.

And yet in other ways, perhaps life today isn't all that different from life in 1929. People are still drawn to light and goodness; they still seek inspiration, beauty, and peace. That will never change, and that's what Music and the Spoken Word has tried so hard to provide over the decades.

So if you find yourself worried or concerned about the future, think back to the year 1929. Think of all the changes the ensuing years have brought, but think also of the principles, the truths, the values that never change, that stand the test of time and connect one generation to the next. As we commence our 90th year of sharing timeless music and messages with the world, we hope you will continue to find hope and inspiration, just as people everywhere have found it in this broadcast since way back in 1929.

During that first broadcast so long ago, the choir sang a hymn about “the dawning of a brighter day” rising “on the world.” We conclude today's broadcast with this same hymn and the same message: “The Morning Breaks, the Shadows Flee” (see Hymns, No. 1).